pope benedict xvi has now moved up the date of the conclave to gather to elect his successor. as another cardinal is still touched by the continuing sex abuse scandal. nbc's ann thompson joins me from rome with more details. first of all, the timing of the conclave, i know the rules allow the cardinals to move it up. what is he saying? when do you think this will begin? >> that's a good question, andrea. despite the pope's actions today, we still don't know when the conclave will exactly start. what the pope did today is give the cardinals the permission to move up the start date with this provico, that all the cardinal electors, all those cardinals under the age of 80 that will vote for the next pope have to be here to decide on the new start date. so the cardinals will start gathering on march 1st, the day after benedict retires, and perhaps they will take a vote, make a decision either march 1st or march 2nd. right now the early date seems to be march 10th, but it's just a guess. nobody is really sure when this conclave is going to get started, and it's very frustrating to